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Artists tend to use the medium most available to them. As buffalo hides became scarce in the late 19th Century, Plains tribes resorted to drawing on the next-most abundant material: paper from accounting books. Artists drew pictographs of important events sometimes overtop lined paper and hand-written debits and credits of a local business. The style became known as ledger art. Now, a new generation of ledger artists are reviving the art form. Notable examples of ledger art are part of a new exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
Mentioned on today’s show:
Unbound: Narrative Art of the Plains
Guests:
Chris Pappan (Kaw, Osage and Cheyenne River Sioux) – artist
Emil Her Many Horses (Oglala Lakota) – curator at the National Museum of the American Indian
Wakeah Jhane (Comanche/ Blackfeet) – ledger artist
Lauren Good Day Giago (Arikara, Hidatsa, Blackfeet and Plains Cree) – artist
Break Music: Five Kiowa “49” Dance Songs (songs) Bill Koomsa, Sr. & Kiowa Dance Group Singers (artist) Kiowa – Traditional Kiowa Songs (album)
